The SNP say they will bring holiday rental properties back into housing stock by demanding that both new and existing operators apply for planning permission.
This proposal is now included in the manifesto launched on Saturday and the party says it will allow at least some of the 10,000 properties in Edinburgh listed on platforms such as AirBnB to become homes for Edinburgh people.
The policy would involve The Scottish Government permitting control area status in Edinburgh which means that all holiday lets must have planning permission – including retrospective consent for those converted to holiday lets in the last decade.
In addition the new City Plan would focus on retaining housing for use as homes and permission to change the use would only be granted in exceptional circumstances. But the letting of spare rooms and temporary lets of a main residence will be allowed to continue.
Adam McVey, leader of the SNP on City of Edinburgh Council, said: “Housing is in high demand in Edinburgh because so many people want to live and work in our amazing city. We simply can’t go on with thousands of properties that were built as homes being run as hotels. We need to bring these residential homes back to being homes for residents so people in the city have affordable places to live.
“In city centre areas especially, the concentration of holiday lets converted from flats has created a local shortage of housing and sent rents upward. Many Edinburgh residents have also experienced constant noise nuisances, serious disturbances and disruption by having to share a stair with properties never designed to be operated as visitor accommodation.
“Websites that started as a perfectly reasonable way of making money by renting out a spare room are more and more being used by big investors to buy up whole residential homes and market them to tourists, all year round. Meanwhile the hotel and B&B sector has suffered as they have been undercut by rivals who have operated without permission and without the same requirement for safety checks.
“Conservative councillors are opposing plans to act. Voters should know that the best way to get action on this is to vote in SNP councillors and prevent the Tories from ripping up our hard-won progress.
“We want a city centre people can live in and this is a workable plan that will turn thousands of properties back into homes once again.”
The SNP manifesto is below:
Loading…
Reload document
Open in new tab 
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
